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In late July of 2011, during a break from demoing a new song, Simon and I sat in our little loft studio in the Liverpool suburbs and tentatively discussed the possibility of doing a podcast. A songwriting podcast, to be precise. Our motivation was thus: we’d been plugging away, writing songs under the Sodajerker sobriquet for a while and, to put it bluntly, were looking for ways to attract some attention to ourselves and the music we were making. Podcasting was becoming increasingly popular medium, so we figured that this could be one small way to put ourselves on the map.

For Christmas 1989, when I was 10 and a half, I got my first Sony Walkman (still one of the best presents I’ve ever received) and a cassette to play on it – Prince’s soundtrack for Tim Burton’s Batman movie, released earlier that year, with which I was obsessed at the time. It was the first album I ever owned, and the only one for a while, so I would play it on a near-constant loop until the tempos slowed and vocals deepened as the Walkman’s batteries ran out of juice. Admittedly, this listening frenzy was as much to do with my childhood Batman obsession as the soundtrack, but now I realise my future musical tastes were being subtly shaped too.

Our shared love of Al Jarreau goes back almost two decades. We were introduced to his music via the track ‘Roof Garden’ while studying at the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts in late 1997 and were immediately drawn to his remarkable, elastic voice and the sheer joie de vivre it exuded (not to mention the quite irresistible funkiness of the song in question).

We are very happy to have contributed some thoughts on podcasting to this NewStatesman article.

The piece, which includes some kind words about us from Caroline Crampton, looks at how podcasts are reinventing music journalism by examining two of the most popular music shows, Sodajerker On Songwriting and Song Exploder.

Hope you’ll check it out!

Following the broadcast of our BBC World Service documentary The Secrets of Songwriting (available now on BBC iPlayer), BBC Music showcased us on their homepage. Thanks guys!

You can see BBC Music promo while its live, and listen to The Secrets of Songwriting online. The programme is also available as a podcast via the World Service on iTunes.

Following the broadcast of our BBC World Service documentary The Secrets of Songwriting (available on BBC iPlayer for the next 30 days), BBC News have produced a feature recounting some of the stories told on the podcast.

In the article, Motown legend Lamont Dozier talks about writing ‘Stop! In the Name of Love’ with the Holland brothers, Allee Willis describes the writing of ‘Boogie Wonderland’ for Earth, Wind & Fire, and Kenny Loggins talks about penning the Doobie Brothers hit ‘What a Fool Believes’ with Michael McDonald.

You can read the article on the BBC website, and listen to The Secrets of Songwriting on BBC iPlayer.

Simon Barber and Brian O’Connor of the Liverpool-based songwriting team Sodajerker are set to present a new one-hour BBC World Service radio documentary called The Secrets of Songwriting.

The programme, which derives from the duo’s hugely popular podcast, Sodajerker On Songwriting, features some of the world’s most renowned songwriters talking about their working processes and sharing the stories behind their biggest hits.

We’re on a bit of a roll at the moment with prestigious publications and media outlets picking up on the Sodajerker podcast and including it in their lists of recommended shows. NME is the latest to show us some love, selecting Sodajerker On Songwriting as one of 13 essential podcasts alongside monster successes like Serial and This American Life.

We were very happy to discover that Entertainment Weekly has named Sodajerker On Songwriting as one of 12 must-listen music podcasts! Being in the company of podcasts from NPR and Radiotopia is also very gratifying, so thanks to the authors for checking out the show and including us in the list.

We were delighted to discover that we have been included in a list of 16 must-listen British podcasts curated by Mashable. For our very independent and home-spun show to appear alongside the likes of Adam Buxton, Scroobius Pip and Private Eye is quite the honour. Thanks Mashable for the shout out!

Do be sure to check out the article and share it if you can.

Cheers for your ongoing support!

You may have read our interviews over at Songwriting, where highlights from our podcasts are regularly published. Well, they recently produced a feature on us for the Winter 2015 issue of their digital magazine!

In the interview, we talk about how we started the podcast, how we choose guests for the show, and our plans for the future. We also talk about the technical side of producing the episodes, which we haven’t really delved into before.

Phil was a fascinating character and we enjoyed every moment of our conversation with him on the podcast. From meeting Elvis to writing worldwide anthems like ‘Eve of Destruction’, he did it all and saw it all. He was a wonderful songwriter and the music world is poorer for his passing. RIP.  — Simon and Brian, Sodajerker

What follows is the official press release issued by Serendipity Media.

It is with deepest sadness that we are announcing that P.F. Sloan (Phil) passed away on the evening of November 15, 2015, at his home in Los Angeles. Phil had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several weeks before and was fighting it valiantly. The world has lost one of its great talents.